Eric Zeng

@_ericzeng

PhD candidate in Security + Privacy + HCI. I'm either out skiing or wishing I was skiing. he/him

Seattle, WA
homes.cs.washington.edu/~ericzeng
Joined October 2014
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    9 Nov 2021

    New paper from us at ! We investigate how online ads during the 2020 Elections used misleading political content to profit: fake polls designed to harvest email addresses, outrage-provoking political clickbait, and more. (thread👇)

    A screenshot of the PDF of our paper, Polls Clickbait and Commemorative $2 Bills: Problematic Political Advertising on News and Media Websites Around the 2020 U.S. Elections
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  2. 9 hours ago

    I just passed my PhD defense yesterday! I will relish being called Dr. Zeng for about a week before it becomes passé. Extremely grateful for my advisor , , and all of my labmates in the security lab for supporting me for all of these years! 🥳🎊🎉

    , , and 3 others
    5 replies 2 retweets 67 likes
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  3. Apr 15

    In an incredibly ironic twist, the article I wrote on sketchy ads was syndicated to other news sites... which run sketchy ads directly alongside my article criticizing them for doing this exact thing!

    4 retweets 16 likes
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  4. Apr 13

    New article by me on : Why do you sometimes see sketchy ads on legit websites? tldr: it's a combination of the omnipresence of adtech, poor content moderation, and websites desperate for ad revenue

    1 reply 10 retweets 29 likes
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  5. Mar 21

    Now that it's officially spring, here's a compilation of my best skiing shots of the winter! It's been a damn good season in the Cascades.

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  6. Mar 18

    Hearing the Windows Vista startup chime playing over the intercom in the light rail station really inspires a lot of confidence in the security of their systems 🙃

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  7. Feb 15

    Is it possible for advertisers to know when someone has pirated their software, and then send them targeted ads? I saw a few of these ads from CleanMyMac in a dataset I'm working on, would be fascinated to know how they did this

    1 reply 1 retweet 3 likes
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  8. Feb 4

    Got some sweet powder turns at Mt. Bachelor last weekend!

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  9. Jan 23

    An unseasonably warm winter's day in the Snoqualmie backcountry

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  10. Jan 16

    Spectacular day at Mt. Rainier yesterday. Never would've guessed based on how foggy it was in the city!

    13 likes
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  11. Jan 15

    web3 and dapps remind me strongly of the exploitative, pay-to-win microtransactions in games like SWBF2. Paying for power over other players, gambling/speculating with real money on loot boxes and keys, expensive exclusive cosmetics for status. Everything new is old!

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  12. Jan 15

    Hell yeah, gamers rise up (unironically). If you want to see what "digital goods" might be like in practice, look no further than 2010s-era microtransactions in games and how much people hated them

    as billions pour into global crypto investment, there’s one group of folks who arent as enthusiastic about NFTs everywhere: GAMERS the pushback against big studios diving into blockchain stuff is here, and customers aren’t happy w/
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  13. Retweeted
    10 Nov 2021

    the only thing better than working with Theo is the fact I got to do it while looking at a crapton of junky 2020 political ads and tl;dr: some were super junky!! Eric's thread explains it better -->

    A screenshot of the PDF of our paper, Polls Clickbait and Commemorative $2 Bills: Problematic Political Advertising on News and Media Websites Around the 2020 U.S. Elections
    New paper from us at ! We investigate how online ads during the 2020 Elections used misleading political content to profit: fake polls designed to harvest email addresses, outrage-provoking political clickbait, and more. (thread👇)
    Show this thread
    4 retweets 16 likes
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  14. 9 Nov 2021

    Check out our website at for the paper and dataset! Also, due to a disagreement with ACM over fair use, we had to remove screenshots of ads - so please look at the copy on our website for the full version.

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  15. 9 Nov 2021

    What can be done? No easy solutions, but some first steps could include more stringent content moderation of political ads (including ads not from political campaigns), and higher standards for misleading political content, including on platforms outside of Google and Facebook

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  16. 9 Nov 2021

    But we think this type of content comes with a cost; beyond potentially harming people financially, these ads can contribute to political polarization and misinformation via misleading and sensationalist claims.

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  17. 9 Nov 2021

    In summary, we found that advertisers used political content to profit. They used controversial political figures to attract clicks, sometimes with deception. The true purpose of the ads is ultimately to make a profit, by selling stuff, harvesting emails, or earning ad revenue.

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  18. 9 Nov 2021

    However, we often found that the underlying articles were less scandalous than the headline implied. Nevertheless, the fact that these ads on news websites means that they could be generating a false sense of controversy and outrage, even if people don’t click on them.

    The landing page of the Pence ad from the previous tweet. The headline of the article reads: ”Pence declares, ‘let’s get back to work’ as session resumes after Capitol siege”
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  19. 9 Nov 2021

    Lastly, we observed a lot of clickbait ads about politicians. These ads are intended to drive traffic to content farms, they use sensationalist headlines, and they imitate the look of actual news articles on the page.

    An ad formatted like a news article, with a photo of Joe Biden looking angry, that says “Joe Biden Goes on Head-Turning Rant, Fires Off At Reporter”
    An ad formatted like a news article, with a picture of Jill and Joe Biden, that says “Jill Biden’s Ex-Husband Just Made a Bold Claim
    An ad formatted like a news article, with a picture of Mike Pence, that says “Pence Makes an Eyebrow-Raising Declaration After DC Siege"
    An ad formatted like a news article, that says “Vanessa Trump’s Stunning Transformation Since She Left Don Jr.”
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  20. 9 Nov 2021

    Other product ads used politics as an attention grabbing part of the sales pitch, like this ad for stock advice that claimed to have predictions based on the outcome of the elections, or this ad for hearing aids referencing Trump signing a bill into law.

    An ad that says “This Stock Could Soar with a Biden Win, Grab the name here (time sensitive)”, with a picture of Biden.
    An ad with a picture of Trump that says “Trump Signs Hearing Device Act, Revolutionary Hearing Device Act Signed Cutting Hearing Device Prices by 65%”
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  21. 9 Nov 2021

    Some ads for products included political content. These included ads for memorabilia, like this Trump Space Force $2 bill. Some of these ads used techniques to hide the price, like claiming the product is free, while charging high prices for shipping and handling.

    An ad for a commemorative U.S. Space Force $2 bill, claiming to be “legal us tender”. It has a photoshopped image of Trump holding the bill.
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